“I am out with lanterns looking for myself.” – Emily Dickinson
This morning I came across the above quote from Emily Dickinson and I just loved it. Emily Dickinson spent her life about 40 minutes from where I live and I had the wonderful opportunity to tour her home and gardens last Summer in Amherst. If any of you live close enough or happen to come to Massachusetts for a visit I highly recommend a stop by her home. The town of Amherst is amazing as well. There are so many beautiful places to discover.
I think many of you will find her life story quite interesting if you have time to give it a read. Many regard her as a recluse. I however see her as a wonderfully intelligent lady who was a non-conformist and chose to live her life as she saw fit.
In the first room of the tour they had several cases of things from her home and books of her poetry. One particular book caught my eye…. “Witchcraft in New England.” I was blown away at the time. The book itself was published in 1906, many years after Emily’s Death. If you are interested in the book you can read a copy of it online here: Witchcraft in New England. The author was Mabel Loomis Todd who has ties to the Dickinson family. I’m assuming that was why it was included in the collection…perhaps it was something more though.
I’ve read several opinions that she considered herself Pagan. This would not be too far of a stretch seeing as she lived during the American Enlightenment and a time where many were starting to question organized religion. However I will let you investigate her life, read her work, and decide for yourself. I do believe many of you will enjoy looking for those answers.
While she was known for her poetry and I know there are so many quotes that many of you will recognize from her…the quote at the beginning of this article was not from a book of her poems but rather a letter that she wrote one Summer as she was moving.
She is actually complaining about moving in this letter! I thought that was pretty funny. I still love the quote.
I think often we are out there looking for ourselves and it’s not always clear. In the darkness of the night it can be difficult to see and you quickly begin to rely on your other senses, sound, smell and your intuition. There’s something about the night though that I think makes it easier to connect to your true self. Perhaps it’s because you can remove other things going on and distractions and just sit in the stillness. One of the things that I love about Emily Dickinson is that she was always educating herself and making an effort to know herself better and honor herself. That’s so important in life. You want to be sure that you live your life true to who you are. I hope that her work and life story will inspire some of you as she did for me.
I hope that you have a magickal day!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jasmeine Moonsong